‘Inside’ Out

Nice little reality check for your's truly. Just as I'm scribbling away on The New Horror Handbook, I poke my head up from my notes in time to realize another landmark flick in the "New Horror" movement may have already hit video stores. I refer to that bizarre, blood-soaked prenatal ballet, A l'Interieur (Inside).

Sure, we all winced like a soccer fan witnessing an own goal when France's Alexandre Aja was snapped up Venus Flytrap-fashion by Hollywood for The Hills Have Eyes remake shortly after the success of his Haute tension, but the French have come a long way since that film took the world by surprise in 2003. Ils (Them) comes most readily to mind as a film that gave the genre -- the tired ol' home invasion scenario specifically -- a much needed shot in the arm.

But Inside seems to offer a very unique take on the whole relentless killer motif. (I must state here that I haven't yet seen the film, I've only read a great deal about it and seen the various clips floating around YouTube. Hope to be giving this disc a spin very soon.)

The setup's deceptively simple: A pregnant woman who recently lost her husband, and nearly lost her unborn child, in a car crash is attacked in her home by a relentless fiend. And that fiend is a woman.

Yes, who hasn't spotted this same story in the news from time to time? But take a look at the clips available from the filmmakers or the trailer above and tell me if there isn't something else going on here -- something greater than the sum of its parts. For further insight into this film, and other recent French horror flicks, you'll also want to check out issue 78 of Rue Morgue, which features an interview with the creative talents behind Inside.